We had to bleed my clutch when we did my rebuild last week and it was the first time since I bought the car back in Sept of 96. I had always liked the way my clutch felt. Smooth, linear engagement that just felt perfect. It had been just over 142,000 miles. :o

We did the set up where John (run4cvr) held the line from the bleeder valve into the clean fluid and I ran the pedal. I would floor the clutch and say IN, he would loosen the bleeder and watch, then tighten it back up and say DONE, I would let out clutch and then go IN and we continued this process for about 10 minutes.

We were both amazed at the amount of shit that came out of that line. :o :o :o
The system is sealed, yes, but very fine crud (?) does get in there. The reason I never noticed it was because the change was soooo gradual that it would be impossible to notice.

Now the clutch pedal feels like a totally different car. I did change to the PT Cruiser clutch and bought a new throwout bearing, but in any case, it's just one of those things that you might not even think about and it's probably a good idea to get a bottle of fluid and a buddy and bleed that sucka before problems develop.

Just some food for thought for my brothers and sisters here. :thumbsup

2 wks ago :)

and 2 months before that
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Chris
96 ESI 5 spd
Milwaukee, WI